Five-star defensive end Da'Shawn Hand of Woodbridge (Va.) took the final leg of his recruiting tour last weekend, visiting Gainesville for Florida's game against Vanderbilt. While the Gators, who are joined by Alabama and Michigan as finalists for Hand's signature in February, lost the game 31-17, Hand told Rivals.com this week the visit "exceeded my expectations a lot."

"They showed me a lot of love and they were really honest," Hand said. "It sucks that they lost, but I still had a good time down there. I got to see how they handle adversity, so that's always a good thing to see."

Hand (6-4, 248), rated as the No. 1 overall prospect in the country by Rivals, came back from visits to Michigan in September and Alabama last month raving about the professors he met at those two schools. He also had kind words for the academic programs he saw at Florida.

"My favorite part: They had a hurricane simulator, which is crazy," he said of Florida. "At Alabama, they had an earthquake simulator, and Michigan blew me away with their sports management program. So all three schools have great academic fields."

Hand is set to announce a decision Thursday at noon on "SportsDash with Yahoo! Sports" on the NBC Sports Network. He declined to to give any hints as to which way he might be leaning.

While Florida is now 4-5 and Michigan has lost three of its last four games, Rivals.com analyst Mike Farrell told mlive.com this week that he believes Hand's recruitment will be dictated by which academic program he likes best.

"None of that is really going to be a big factor for Da'Shawn Hand," Farrell said of the teams' records. "It's going to come down to sports management and marketing or civil engineering. I know he could do engineering at Michigan, but it's all about the presentation. And I think Michigan made the best presentation."